Official church positions on nudism

[Macanudist]

As evident from the responses to another post in this forum, nudists are active in any number of organized religions. Some make no secret of their nudist lifestyle but others do, perhaps feeling fellow church members wouldn't understand or accept them. Are there churches where there would be no "shame" in being a nudist? Where visiting a nudist resort after church be no more controversial than say, joining a bowling league?

Churches have official positions on all sorts of subjects such as alcohol use, abortion, and gambling. My question is, what are the official positions of organized religions on the subject of social nudism, broken out by denomination?

[Macanudist]

As evident from the responses to another post in this forum, nudists are active in any number of organized religions. Some make no secret of their nudist lifestyle but others do, perhaps feeling fellow church members wouldn't understand or accept them. Are there churches where there would be no "shame" in being a nudist? Where visiting a nudist resort after church be no more controversial than say, joining a bowling league?

Churches have official positions on all sorts of subjects such as alcohol use, abortion, and gambling. My question is, what are the official positions of organized religions on the subject of social nudism, broken out by denomination?

[nudeM]

Macanudist: Look under the heading, "what religion are you" for some answers. There seems to be quite a bit of viewpoints involved in this thread, ten pages to be exact. That translates into a lot of information, hopefully you will find what you are looking for.

[Prometheus]

Take a look at this page. You might find some of what you are looking for there:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/nudism.htm

The entire site is an excellent read if you want to learn more about world religions.

[David77]

quote:

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Originally posted by Macanudist:
[qb]As evident from the responses to another post in this forum, nudists are active in any number of organized religions. Some make no secret of their nudist lifestyle but others do, perhaps feeling fellow church members wouldn't understand or accept them. Are there churches where there would be no "shame" in being a nudist? Where visiting a nudist resort after church be no more controversial than say, joining a bowling league?

[/qb]

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Yes. The Unitarian Universalist Church would have no controversy or objection to a person who states that they attend nudist resorts. When my Unitarian Universalist church members asked where I had gone on vacation I told them I had just returned from attending a nudist resort, but no one "batted an eye", except one man laughed as he thought I was trying to be humorous. When he learned I was serious, he was quite accepting, as were the other members.

[Jochanaan]

I don't believe I mentioned my own church's beliefs in my original posting on "What religion do you belong to?" My denomination, Seventh Day Baptist, takes no official position on the issue, but many individuals in the church would undoubtedly have serious reservations about nudism. Others might well accept its legitimacy. It is even possible that there are other nudists among our people. (If you're out there, feel free to contact me!)

[Fresh Air]

I personally think this is more of a people issue than a religious one. I would expect to be equally judged by church members and non-church members given any subculture. If a church is full of open-minded people then they would be accepting.

Many churches, including mine (Seventh-day Adventists...similar to Jochanaan's) don't have a position on the matter. But, you will certainly find members who do, on either side of the issue.

I just feel nudism is too rare (population-wise) to get a social group randomly who is full of practicing nudists or at least fully accepting of them. Unless a church is started and propogated by nudists to begin with, I doubt it will be an after church activity [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Fresh Air

[Trailscout]

That would be so cool if our church singles minister announced, "Right after worship next Sunday we are heading up to Hidden Valley Nudist Resort, so pack your towels and some sunscreen"!

I think most churches have diversity of thought about nudity. I have met members of more conservative denominations at nudist resorts. They are just ultra secretive about it.

I prefer more moderate churches that tend to give members more latitude about lifestyle issues that don't involve mortal sin. You don't have to be so secretive about casual nudity there.

[nudecollar]

The Anglican Church (aka Episcopalian) doesnt ban nudity, as far as I've studied anyway. The church frowns on immoral acts, of course, but just being naked is not immoral. My family and I are often naked in the privacy of our home and we have been to a local clothing optional beach. There is a time and a place for nudity, of course, and a time and a place for clothing. It is important to be discreet. Even my kids, ages 12, 11, 9 and 7 know that. So we exercise discretion and live out our religion.

[luvnaturism]

My guess is that not many of the Christian denominations have taken official positions on social naturism. The Roman Catholics are on record via the Pope's famous statement about nudity, but I'm not sure that translates directly to full support for naturism?though it certainly opens the door.

In most Protestant churches the "official" view would be set the by the minister and/or the church board. If one is in a conservative tradition, there's a risk that there would be a strong knee-jerk reaction against it without bothering to seek further information.

In my case, our church has a pastor who is considerably more conservative than most of our congregation. My sense of things?and this is really just a guess?is that it would be OK with a lot of our members, but our pastor and a few others could well make it an issue. I don't care to argue about it, so I just keep quiet.